The new location of My168Project.com. As we know, anyone can make a movie in a week. Is it any good? That may be subjective. What I like may not be what you like. That's okay. It's All An Illusion, my 50+ plus years in and around the entertainment industry will be published just in time for Christmas, and include several articles I've written both here and elsewhere. Stay tuned!!!

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

I don't have to tell you times are bad. You have other places you go for that. However, as the recent result of all the new privacy laws trickle through the various sites at varying paces, an interesting phenomenon has taken place. First, let's talk about the purge, not to be confused with the movie franchise of the same name.

This one took place on Twitter, and by extension, the other social media sites as well. At the same time, a proliferation of 'bots has materialized on Facebook, and with my steer into the iceberg philosophy fully intact, I plan to max out my book of the face friends at the titular number.

Other sites play the friends game differently. You can have as many connections on LinkedIn™ as you want, and I'm a LION there. If you don't know what that is, look it up. Most of you are using your social media responsibly, while the rest of the planet is attempting to monetize your experience there. I may be somewhat guilty of this, as I ask you to buy me a few cups of coffee every time I post something new. Coffee keeps the virtual engine running, and if you were around during the 80's, Coffee Achiever is a title that I would gladly embrace.

However, you're not obligated to buy me coffee, or anything else for that matter. Pay Per Click, or PPC, has taken over the entire 'net. Advertising and subscription are the only two valid ways to make any kind of money, and the tech exists for anyone to do both, and the big boys want to keep all of theirs, while giving you crumbs.

What's this got to do with anything?

Well, I'll tell you, if for no other reason to make some semblance of an arbitrary word count deemed current by search engines this week. Most of those accounts that were purged were NOT real people. They were 'bots programmed to artificially inflate clicks. Someone figured this out, and as server space is at a premium these days, and they decided to do something about it. I've talked about the GDPR elsewhere, and IIRC, May 25th is when all of this started.

It may have started before that with fallout from #Brexit, but I'm only descended from Irish Nobility. I don't live in the UK, and I'm only remotely affected by things they do there, like drive on the wrong side of the street. Of course, from their POV, we're driving on the wrong side of the street, but that's because we rebelled (See:American Revolution).

I don't necessarily know with absolute certainty that A implies B in this case, I just have a notion that it's true. I didn't start getting face requests on Friendsbook, wait. Strike that. Reverse it. Until after the purge that took place, what a week ago?

So, I'm simply going to sit back and allow all the 'bots to request friendship, and I'll let them know that the ship is sinking. Because if the other indicators of desperation are true, it's only a matter of time before the book of faces collapses under it's own weight. Hint: Nothing is too big to fail. They just perform BADLY.

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

Saturday, July 7, 2018

I've written about this before. There is a unique hammock of things that exist 30, 60, 90
days out.

My life is scheduled for me at this point. Everything is about Comic Con. Also, 30 day free
trials rule the land. If you sign up for one, make sure you save all your work, and then
cancel your subscription, because you don't want their issues.

The problem with this is, they have your email address forever, and they've sold it. With
or without your consent as it doesn't matter. You want to know why? It's part of the terms
of service, which you probably tossed aside, no pun intended. Most of us that have been
dealing with those for years simply scroll and check without reading, however buried
deep within every boilerplate TOS contract I've seen there's a clause that states
something on the order of, "We have the right to share your email address with 3rd party
services...."

That may be a paraphrase. My point is simply this: If you have an email address, and by
virtue of the fact that you're reading this you have at least one, your information has
been sold, bartered, traded, or most likely clicked on by someone you've never heard of
before. They may be from another country, too!!!

Okay, that comma probably doesn't belong, so my editor will take care of that and make
it look pretty, but she's busy right now, so you're going to see this before she does. It's
why I have a thousand pages of dynamite stuff on how to or more likely not how to make
a movie that's going to be pared downto 300 pages complete with pictures, and
hyperlinks.... How do we do footnotes in the 21st Century? I DON'T KNOW!!!

Wikipedia has that info, and when you sign up for their "free" account, they tell you the
guidelines for how to create your first article. I attempted to create one to honor my
father, however there's not enough info out there.... Sure, we could goto Magipedia, but I
can't d/l because of some arcane agreement between the owner of that site and they
that sold Genii Magazine....

I just want ownership of my father's IP. Am I asking for too much? Maybe I can get
Michael Lovitz on the case....

Okay, so since I'm going to post this elsewhere, before I export I'll have to correct
spelling mistakes. Thanks coach!!!

Action items to boot. However, not for publication.

So, what do we know? Nothing really by virtue of all the information that's out there.
If the 90's were The Information Age, then by the turn of the century and beyond we've
reached The Too Much Information Age. We already have TMI by virtue of the
aforementioned fact: The 'net is forever. My email address that I haven't been using daily
since April is being passed around willy-nilly by those that would do these things.

I made the mistake of signing up for something, and I was greeted with a phone call the
next day that stated I needed hearing aids. NO!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe if I wanted the bionics I could get CA to pay for them, but I already hear too much
already. They tell you that you can't do something because of your age, and I say they're
wrong. I know my capabilities and limitations. As for the latter, I don't have any, but I
have yet to do certain things. Read: The scientific method hasn't been applied.

Currently as far as the 'net is concerned, fully half the information on it outright
contradicts the other half. Who's right? Not for me to say. I'm just another fucking
observer attempting to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Something that may have been buried by those that would bury things is affecting you
today, whether or not you live in the state of confusion. The 'net was declared a public
utility by the government during the previous administration, and by extension owned by
the good ol' USA.

What do we conclude from this?

Hopefully there's some questions left unanswered, however I've got fiction to create
based on writing assignments I was given two, three, and maybe even four years ago.
Never get this far behind, as you may become overwhelmed. This raises the question,
has anyone ever been simply whelmed?

72 and sunny in Redondo Beach, even though it's the hottest day of the year. Adjust your
expectations accordingly.™

Thanks In Advance For Your Support!!!

About Me

Watch my favorite movies of all time, and you'll get an impression of what I'm like. However, that would only scratch the surface. The best thing to do would be to either, ask me directly, OR, do a search on my name. However, that probably won't tell you a whole lot, either.